The Seta Karahashi Bridge is well known as the setting of one of The eight scenic spots of Omi, Karahashi Bridge used to be a strategic point for military purposes and transportation leading to Kyoto. In fact it formed the setting of many internal wars.
About 500 m east of Karahashi Bridge stands Takebe Taisha, a shrine dedicated to Yamato Takeru and known also as Omi Ichi no Miya, the No. 1 shrine of Omi.
The shrine remembered in connection with Yoritomo Minamoto and has been popularly regarded as the home of the god of success and good luck. The festival of the shrine, the Senko Sai Festival, is held on August 17th every year and is counted as one of the three big festivals of Otsu.
Ishiyama-dera Temple, the setting of another of The eight scenic spots of Omi, is also famous as the 13th of the 33 holy places of Kannon visited by pilgrims in Western Japan. The temple is said that it was here that Murasaki Shikibu created the plot of her novel "The Tale of Genji."
Besides its main building and the temple tower, which are designated National Treasures, cherry blossoms, azaleas, irises, and autumn foliage attract tourists through the four seasons.
On the lower slopes of the mountain to the west of Ishiyama-dera Temple lies Genju-an, a hut where Matsuo Basho lived for four months during the Genroku period (1688-1703). In 1991 the hut was restored.

In 1180, Kiso Yoshinaka (also known as Minamoto no Yoshinaka) lost the battle and died on the fields of Awazu. Gichu-ji Temple (a different reading of "Yoshinaka Temple") is built in his memory. In later times, Matsuo Basho often visited this temple and was buried here at his request.
Zeze Castle, whose site is now a park, was completed by Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and was a water castle surrounded by a natural moat formed by lake water. Along the Old Tokaido Road, there are still old samurai residences.

Mii-dera Temple (Onjo-ji Temple) is the head temple of the Tendai Jimon sect and it has many historical heritages, including its main hall, a National Treasure. It is the 14th of the 33 holy places of Kannon visited by pilgrims in Western Japan. The temple is well known as the setting of "The evening bell of the Miidera temple", one of The eight scenic spots of Omi, and is a popular sightseeing spot for cherry blossoms and autumn foliage.
There are many facilities where people can get a taste of the history and culture of the town, such as Otsu City Museum of History, right next to Mii-dera Temple, and Otsu Festival Float Museum. In Yanagasaki Lakeside Park, the garden and Biwako Otsu-kan, a restored early-Showa-style hotel, are popular.
Old town houses are scattered about along the Old Tokaido Road, and a pass to Kyoto is well known by the name of Osaka ("Meeting Hill"), which appears in a famous tanka (thirty-one-syllable verse) by Semimaru, which is in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology of poems.

Further south from Ishiyama-dera Temple along the Setagawa River, Tachiki Kannon (Tachiki-san Anyo-ji Temple) is widely worshipped as an Kannon that an protect from evil. According to legend, Kobo Daishi (Kuukai), built this temple in the early Heian period at the "critical age" of 42. From the riverside road to the temple area there are over 700 stone steps.
Also, deep in the summit of Mt Iwama stands Iwama-dera Temple (Iwama-san Shoho-ji Temple), which is said to have been originated by Taicho Hoshi when he carved a statue of the thousand-armed Kannon during the Nara period. The temple is also the 12th of the 33 holy places of Kannon visited by pilgrims in Western Japan.